b. 02/09/1841 Brooklyn, New York. d. 07/06/1915 Brooklyn, New York.
DATE OF MOH ACTION: 30/08/1862 Bull Run, Virginia.
James W Webb MOH
Civil War Medal of Honor Recipient. A hatter by trade, after the start of the Civil War, he enlisted as a Private in Company F, 5th New York Volunteer Infantry (“Duryee’s Zouaves”) on July 1, 1861. At the battle of Second Manassas (Second Bull Run) on August 30, 1862, the 5th and 10th New York Infantry regiments of Colonel Gouverneur K. Warren’s brigade, made a gallant but hopeless effort to stem the Confederate onslaught on the left flank of the Federal forces. As Warren’s troops were being overrun and falling back, James Webb noticed that the guns of Lieutenant Charles Hazlett’s Battery D, 5th United States Regular Artillery, were about to be flanked and captured by the advancing Confederates. He turned back, sprinting through a hail of bullets, one of which cut across his side, and alerted the battery commander, who safely extricated his guns. One of his comrades called the private’s deed “a forlorn hope of the most desperate character.”
Despite his wound, James Webb chose to remain with his unit, and participated in the subsequent campaigns of Antietam, Federicksburg and Chancellorsville. In May of 1863 he was transferred to Company C, 146th New York Volunteer Infantry, and served with that regiment until his muster out on July 27, 1864. Following the war he had a varied and colorful career as New York policeman, territorial marshal and army scout in Montana, and prospector in the Black Hills of Dakota. Returning to his native Brooklyn, he was active in borough politics, worked as an agent for sculptor Henry Baer, and was a member of the Grand Army of the Republic and the Fifth New York Veterans Association. He served as chairman of the committee that erected a monument to the Duryee Zouaves commemorating their sacrifice on the battlefield of Manassas.
His Medal was awarded to him on September 17, 1897 (although some sources state August 27, 1897).
BURIAL LOCATION: CYPRESS HILLS NATIONAL CEMETERY, BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.
SECTION 2, GRAVE 7401.
LOCATION OF MEDAL: AMERICAN NUMISMATIC SOCIETY, NEW YORK.
